Controlling Urges

We all get them. Those impulses to act on an obsessive thought. They can be to smoke, to clean, to drink, to eat or to check your phone nonstop. Giving into them leads to instant satisfaction, followed by feelings of guilt and ignoring them leads to deep, skin crawling discomfort.

I want to preface this discussion by sharing with you that I’ve battled with binge eating, starving myself and obsessiving over food most of my adult life.

Today I am going to share with you how I’ve learned to handle urges associated with food so you can gain back control. I want to help you get to the point that you can walk by _____ (insert your favorite guilty pleasure food 🍫) and not even bat an eye or drop a drip of sweat.

Typically, we are taught to just avoid it. Throw out all the junk food. Take away temptation completely. Out of sight out of mind. But seriously… who does that work for?

See these urges, for some of us, are as unconscious as breathing. Part of being able to take your control back over the urge is to acknowledge it. Acknowledge the thought that is producing the feeling.

It takes practice and discipline to do this but you can do it!

Once you’ve become aware of your urges and taken control of your reaction to them, does that mean you can never have the thing that causes your urge ever again?

No, but you must plan every time your are going to indulge. That way you are making a conscious choice and have power over your action.

Similarly, when I coach my clients about healthy eating, I don’t tell them then can never have a cheat meal. I ask that they make a conscious effort to eat well 80% of the time and plan for the 20% when they don’t.